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Cambridge City Council has forked out £2.5 million of taxpayers’ cash to pay consultants, it has been revealed.

The city council is hoping to cut back and save £2.2 million over the next five years but has forked out hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants during the last five years, according to details obtained using freedom of information laws.

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In 2011/12 the consultants’ bill hit £467,000 with the highest pay out going to the Burrell Partnership at £64,000. The following year the total bill topped £492,000 with Mouchell transport strategists being paid the highest fee at £29,000.

In 2013/14 the billed soared to £589,000 with Northgate consultants receiving the highest pay out at £25,000.

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Bates, Wells and Braithwaite solicitors received the highest pay-out in 2014/15 at £65,000 out of a total consultants’ bill of £411,000.

And in 2015/16 councillors paid out £520,000, with the biggest bill coming from LDA Design Consulting.

Cllr Richard Robertson, the council’s finance and resources chief, said: “These figures need to be seen in the context of the annual gross turnover of the city council of £150,000,000 to £170,000,000 in each of the five years given.

"For example, the highest figure – £589,000 in 2013/14 – was 0.35 per cent of the £165,000,000 revenue and capital turnover for that year.

“The city council provides a very wide range of services to the residents of Cambridge and it is important to provide these in the best and most effective way. We use consultants where they are the best option both financially and for the skills they add.

“Consultants provide external expertise that complements the wide ranging skills of council staff including on specialisms where we cannot justify the extra costs of permanent staff.

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“Work to achieve the local plan has easily been the biggest area needing independent consultants and second to that has been IT specialists to improve the council’s computing systems and deliver increased service efficiency. All that work has been high quality and made a real difference on behalf of our residents.”